Quality Control

Currently Listening To :: Quiet Storm :: Smokey Robinson

I've procrastinated so long on this entry that it feels so out of place to me, but...

After about six months with working for the "man", I've finally decided to put my hand up and start making some noise as to my future career progression within the company. Over a 2 hour breakfast with my manager, I basically spelt out the direction I want to be taking, and asking for feedback on how I've been performing. It was great to be able to have this sort of chat; working for such a large company is something new to me, and the level of openness and scope to move is something I'd never dreamed of in my old job. Even in these last few weeks, it's been more and more new and fun experiences.

And as we all know, fun rules.

Last Thursday I spent teaching people how to make kites, drinking ice tea and firing water guns at the annual Camp Quality BBQ, which the Big U has put on this year to help kids with cancer. Helping the little kids out with their kites took me waaay back to my early university days working at Vacation Care. Looking after lil' rascals running rings around me was how I made my small change, while giving piggy-back rides and dishing out tough love in equal doses were the order of the day.

This Friday past I attended an company "X-Factor" conference with our Chairman trying to help us see his vision of a successful 2004. A combination of cool presentations, new product announcements and an African drumming session where we all got to get into the riddim with our own drums was something I've never experienced before. I'll have to admit, just like Big Kev, I was excited, but perhaps not to the point where I was testifying on the wonder and virtue of our company ala a Microsoft employee conference.

State sales conference in two weeks, too.

I need more sleep...

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As I promised my favourite girl in Vietnam, here is some damn good advice and quotes from my favourite mag Esquire (thanks BJimmy for putting me onto this!). If you want more, go buy the magazine you freeloaders!

Robert De Niro [Actor, 60, New York City]

Some people say "New York's a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." I say that about other places.

There's not such thing as not being afraid.


Ice Cube [Rapper, actor, writer, 34, Los Angeles]

Truth is the ultimate power. When the truth comes around, all the lies have to run and hide.

I was happy O.J. got off. I never believed he killed her. But if he did do it, he used the system how it's supposed to be used. Why should the people who don't believe he was innocent be angry? You set up a system, and when it don't go your way, you get mad at the system? The system is there to bury you. Why can't it be there to save you?


The College Sex Columnists [Teresa Chin & Rachael Klien (U Cal Berkely)]

If you see a bra with a front clasp, it's best not to say "Oh, cool! A front one! I love these!" You sound stupid.

Contrary to popular belief, it takes more than the push of a button or a bottle of Herbal Essences to get a girl to climax. Female orgasm require quite a bit more panache then "lather, rinse, repeat."


Christpoher Reeve [51, Superman]

We all have many more abilities and internal resources than we know. My advice is that you don't need to break your neck to find out about them.

Success is finding satisfaction in giving a little more than you take.


Christie Brinkley [49, Uptown Girl]

Oppenheimer, what were you thinking? Nuclear energy should have been our scientists' deepest, darkest secret, to be taken to the grave.

Children are magicians who make adults smile.


Muhammad Ali [61, Champion]

God will not place a burden on a man's shoulders knowing that he cannot carry it.

I just wish people would love everybody else the way that they love me. It would be a better world.


And finally, some more words from Jack.


Jack Nicholson [66, Movie Star]

My motto is: more good times.

I respect the social graces enormously. How to pass the food. Don't yell from one room to another. Don't go through a closed door without a knock. OPen the doors for the ladies. All these millions of simple household behaviours make for a better life. We can't live in a constant rebellion against our parents - it's just silly. I'm very well mannered. It's not an abstract thing. It's a shared language of expectations.

I think the Greeks invented sports as an antidote to philosophy. In sports there are absolute rules. It's not, What about this? What about that? Either you're safe or you're not. It's ten yards or it's not. It's in the hoop or out of the hoop. It's certain.

I don't think many people have a very good understanding of leisure and the importance it plays in our lives. People today are too competitive about leisure, as if it needs to have some other value in order to be able to fit into our puritanical view of the world. But if you're playing golf to get a loan, it ain't golf, you know what I mean?